Event at CJ Kelly Park to benefit West Texas teen

Published 7:38 am, Friday, November 8, 2013

Katie Gutierrez is a 15-year-old ninth-grader at Snyder High School who is battling a recurring brain tumor.

In 2009, Katie was playing softball when she was hit in the head with a ball. After being diagnosed with a severe concussion, Katie returned home. Over the next few weeks she began having headaches and some vision changes.

An MRI revealed that she had a rare brain tumor that had been growing since birth. Doctors recommended surgery to remove the tumor.

In October, four years after her diagnosis, doctors performed the fifth surgery to drain and remove the tumor from her brain. Unable to access the tumor, they told Katie and her family they will need to plan another surgery. The family hopes it can wait until after the holidays.

“She’s fighting so badly to just have a normal life — even though we haven’t had big Christmases in a long time, that’s still important to her,” said her mother, Amy Ramirez-Gutierrez. “She’s only 15 years old, she feels like she’s missed out on a lot of her life. I know she was really wanting to have a special Christmas.”

Katie and her family will be the guests of honor at the Looking Up for Hope event Saturday at CJ Kelly Park. A motorcycle procession will arrive at the park around 2:30 p.m. where Midlanders of all ages can listen to live music by Justin Langston. There will be jumpers for kids and numerous raffle prizes from the Harley Davidson shop, Midland Power Sports, Family Fitness, Gold’s Gym and other local businesses. Money raised will go to Katie and her family.

This is the second year for the event hosted by Looking Up For Hope, a local nonprofit founded last year by Brandon Van Huss.

“It’s a very family-oriented, Christian-based nonprofit,” Van Huss said. “Everybody is more than welcome to come.”